Britain Appoints Experts To Look At Mobile Phones

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Friday April 9 4:30 AM ET 

Britain Appoints Experts To Look At Mobile Phones

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain Thursday appointed independent 
experts to assess the mass of research on mobile phones and 
health risks even though the latest evidence suggests the essential 
1990s accessory merely speeds up your reactions.  

Tessa Jowell, a junior health minister, said she had set up a panel 
of experts as part of the National Radiological Protection Board, 
which provides independent advice on the risks to health from 
radiation.  

``To date there has been no consistent evidence suggesting risk to 
health but there is continuing public concern about the possibility,'' 
she said.  

Wednesday, New Scientist magazine poured cold water on 
concerns that mobile phones could cause cancer but said recent 
studies showed the emissions from mobile phones did appear to 
have strange effects on living tissue.  

It said Alan Preece, a medical physicist at the University of Bristol, 
carried out the first study on human responses by clamping a 
device that mimicked the microwave emissions of analog or digital 
mobile phones to the left ear of volunteers.  

Switching the phones on or off had no effect on their ability to 
remember words and pictures, but when the headset was switched 
on, they were quicker at reacting to words flashed on the screen.  

Preece's work was funded by the Department of Health.  

``I believe we need a definitive and rigorous assessment of existing 
research and clear identification of areas where further research 
may be needed so that the public can receive clear advice about 
the use of mobile phones and a clear risk assessment from 
independent experts,'' Jowell said.

Sandy Perle
E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 
Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/1205

"The object of opening the mind, as of opening 
the mouth, is to close it again on something solid"
              - G. K. Chesterton -
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